With the privilege of being promoted comes the privilege of a hiding from the World champions. Hoping for a decent effort and a couple of tries. Also for some recruitment announcements pretty soon.

Sat 3pm rules this out for me.

Thought when I first read it, we'd signed Peter Butterworth but then I realised he was dead. Welcome to the Twilight Zone Reiss.

Does the short term loan of Reiss Butterworth suggest Sam Davis is injured, or are we just looking at depth in the position with Bill Leyland out for the season and Dean Parata unavailable to cover as he's now out..

I ask as Davis went off with ten minutes left to be replaced by Macani. Oli then effectively moved to Hooker. Maybe tactical or we simply ran out of options. With Williams replacing Jones a couple of minutes later, the only player available (fresh enough) on the bench was Rogers which would have overloaded the team with Props.

I'm probably reading too much into it. I guess second to Prop it can be the most physically tiring position, so hard to play the full 90. Whilst he was replaced like for like against at St.Helens by Matt Davies, against Catalans it was Jordan Williams replacing him, and the Macani at Hull.

With just three foreign players (and only one in the forwards) available tomorrow, we aren't helping ourselves.

I’m guessing he doesn’t feel Davies is ready although I thought he did well as did the commentator. I think Davis had a knock at the start of the year and he’s also been picking up quite a few penalties so it’s possible he wants to be able to give him a bit of a rest and give him some competition for the post.

Thoroughly enjoying this game....getting up at 4am to watch the broncos after 14 years down here...COYB

I would have bet a substantial amount of money that Wigan would not have taken a penalty kick at goal in the second half. Yet leading by just 6 with 33 minutes left, they needed those insurance points. We had just had a chance to potentially tie the scores.

The late change where Campagnolo dropped out of the starting (and total) line-up meant by my calculations that only Bassett (League 1 player 18 months ago) and Kennedy counted as quota players; so five short of what is allowed.

Now accepting the Wigan players were generally higher quality and fitter, what stood out to me was the physical difference. Often three and at times four Broncos were required to stop the opposition. Probably being overly simplistic here, but were we to have fielded five Southern Hemisphere brick-houses with the requisite skills (and fitness!) would we have been significantly more competitive?

I was impressed (again) today watching a team that is probably over performing it's individual constituent parts. For 50 minutes we stuck in there. There was always only going to be one winner. Pre-match I expected us to concede points on almost every Wigan possession in the last 15 minutes. I was very doubtful we'd score today, certainly not four times (plus one overruled by the Video Ref) and 10 nil down after ten minutes I was fearing a result of 0-80. In the end the final result was harsh, but Wigan became clinical and we were totally knackered.

A good solid attendance just over 4,000 (looked four figure away support) plus Hospitality doing very well again. I guess the only knock, on attendance (and perhaps being a bit harsh) is not hitting 5,000 against Wigan. In all areas of the club though, they've come on leaps and bounds in the last two years. Chalk and Cheese comparing the dismal shutout at home to Whitehaven and today's match. Watching the former I didn't see much future at Plough Lane. Today I did.

Noticeable good number of new fans - younger fans and people who o suspect play either RL or Ru so looks like club has got its act together. How’s not the time to say who isn’t impressing but I thought both Butterworth and Fenton were really good. Jones had a good game as. Well. Team created chances. Kept going but was outgunned by a better side.

Needing 3 or 4 players to stop one Northern forward has been a problem we have had for almost all the years I’ve been following London Broncos. Means your players are knackered after 60 minutes and you get steamrolled!

Can’t fault the effort and I’m pleased we got over 20 points on the board- but although we hung on for a long time there was no way we were going to win this game was there?

Noticeable when Mago skittled Butler. Not seen that before. Also Kennedy works hard but struggles to bring a player down or restrict metres. Thought Fenton did well though and Williams always makes an impact. Hoping Bienek comes back soon.

Butterworth looked good. Was first interchange to come on halfway through the first half (part of a double interchange). May be wrong, but I think he remained on the pitch for the rest of the match. Shame he's only here for two weeks. Perhaps after the Hull KR match in early April we can have him back for longer?

I was totally oblivious that Butler got a yellow for the penalty that put Wigan 8 ahead after 47 minutes. Appears we leaked 14 points whilst down to twelve.

Yup me too Smithers. Missed it completely.

Btw with larger crowds have come a much livelier fan zone and better food options. Had my pie very good.

Davis did come on again for Butterworth. I have to say B was the livelier of the two so I hope that will drive performance and competition. If I’m honest though it’s the Campo Meadows axis that needs to transition to the SL standard ASAP or we need to recruit.

Davis indded came back on midway through the second half, but replaced a Prop I believe. Butterworth started the move for Kershaw's second try. If I have my terminology correct, he was first receiver at dummy half (?) to start that move.

Not sure how specific the forward positions are in Rugby League without proper scrums, but I suspect Davis was playing loose forward and Stock was at Prop at that particular juncture of the match.

Unfortunately didn't see any of the game but Cakeman doesn't seem very impressed with the Ref. Was that fair comment?

No. The only quibble is that where it’s a bit of a mismatch ensuring the far better side stays onside most of the time is really important and I think there were times when he could have pinged them. But it’s swings and roundabouts.

Cheers BT, I think off side is a recurring issue in both codes of rugby that the officials constantly struggle with & and dare, I say, often guess at.

On side off side we were pretty good on sat, looks like it's something they have put a lot of effort into, it was wigan who were off the line too quick a few times. Disappointingly we are still getting caught not square at marker a fair bit but thats also a lot yo do with speed opposition are regaining there feet, incorrect PTB is unforgivable though, we have been caught in all our games doing that. It's not hard, if in doubt touch it with the foot

While I don't disagree with you NB, it is why Referees need to be consistent not only game to game, but within game too. From the Broncos games this season & others, that has not been the case. People may disagree, but I thought the best refereed game for us this season was at Hull where the difference in the teams was the least. Big clubs, just as in football, tend not to be penalised to the same extent as there lesser colleagues.

The only way to slow the ptb down is to dominate the tackle and others have said, we look too small to handle some of the northern behemoths. Can't fault the backroom for effort with a 4.5k average 2 games in and a lot of promo for the St Patrick's day game....currently it looks like FC, Castleford and Possibly Leigh are the home games where we stand a chance....but so far it's gone as well knew it would yet we all seem pretty upbeat.
COYB

Got to agree with Yr view! Maybe Huddersfield at cherry red!. Would like to be playing cas sooner rather than later before they get some bodies back.

Good that the club is ( finally ) doing something but a £90 meal deal in the lounge for St Patrick's might be a bit rich for a lot of folk, especially in the current financial climate.
Think I'll stick with standard admission and a pizza.

To be fair they are offering two different lounge options, the 90£ one is the full sit down meal, the normal lounge with buffet still available, still £49 so not cheap.